Shloka 15

Vamana's Three Steps — Vamana’s Three Steps and the Binding of Bali

Devanagari script

रसातलं वा वृथिवीं भुवं नाकमथापि वा एतभ्यः कतमं दद्यां स्थानं याचस्व वामन

Transliteration

rasātalaṃ vā vṛthivīṃ bhuvaṃ nākamathāpi vā etabhyaḥ katamaṃ dadyāṃ sthānaṃ yācasva vāmana

Translation

“(Is it) Rasātala, or the Earth, or the mid-region (Bhuvaḥ), or even Heaven (Svarga)? From among these, which place should I give? Ask for a domain, O Vāmana.”

Speakers

• Bali speaking to Vāmana/Viṣṇu

Primary Deities

• Vishnu

Key Themes

• Three worlds cosmology
• Sovereignty and donation of realms
• Dāna as transfer of ‘sthāna’ (domain)
• Foreshadowing Trivikrama’s cosmic strides

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

{ "primaryRasa": "adbhuta", "secondaryRasa": "vira", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

FAQs

What cosmological scheme is implied by ‘Rasātala–Pṛthivī–Bhuvaḥ–Nāka’?

It gestures to the layered Purāṇic cosmos: nether regions (here Rasātala as representative), the terrestrial plane (Pṛthivī), the atmospheric/intermediate region (Bhuvaḥ), and the heavenly realm (Nāka/Svarga). The sequence anticipates Viṣṇu’s later spanning of the worlds.

Why does Bali ask which ‘place’ (sthāna) he should give, instead of simply granting the requested ‘three steps’?

Bali interprets the request through the lens of royal land-grants: a gift is a transferable jurisdiction or domain. By offering entire realms, he asserts maximal generosity and challenges the apparent smallness of ‘three steps,’ intensifying the narrative irony.

Are any rivers, tīrthas, forests, or pilgrimage sites mentioned here?

No. The verse is cosmological rather than geographical in the tīrtha-yātrā sense; it names cosmic regions (Rasātala, Earth, Bhuvaḥ, Heaven) but no specific terrestrial sacred sites.